30. Pilots are banned from talking below 10,000 feet

Pilots are barely allowed to talk to each other if the aircraft is below this altitude. And this is thanks to something called the Sterile Cockpit Rule.

It means that during take-off and landing - before the aircraft passes 10,000 feet on ascent and after it has passed 10,000 feet on the approach - pilots must focus entirely on “their essential operational activities” and “avoid non-essential conversations”.

“Sterile flight deck procedures are meant to increase the flight crew members’ attention to their essential operational activities when their focused alert is needed,” reads the code, which applies to all aviation authorities in the EU, including the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).